Meet the NCAA Men's Division I Selection Committee

Gary D. Walters, AD, Princeton University
2006-2007 Chair
A 1967 graduate of Princeton, Walters was named AD in June 1994. He has served as a TV color analyst on Big East Conference basketball games. A three-time letterwinner as a point guard on the Tigers' basketball team, Walters became the youngest head basketball coach in the NCAA in 1970, when he took over the duties at Middlebury College. After three years at Union College, he returned to Princeton as an assistant coach in 1973. Walters then served as the head coach at Dartmouth College where he was named New England Coach of the Year. He finished his coaching career at Providence College, and in 1980 was honored by being selected to coach at the United States Olympic Basketball Trials. In 1981, he moved into the financial world, joining the investment firm of Kidder, Peabody & Co.

Walters played high school basketball at Reading (Pa.) High under legendary Princeton coach Pete Carril.

Thoughts on the Selection Committee

Bob Bowlsby's 2005 NCAA Committee did the best job of any previous group in seeding the 65-team tournament field, in the estimation of Bracketography.com.

Craig Littlepage's crew may have done one of the worst jobs, in my opinion, both in terms of which teams were selected for the field, and where a number of teams were seeded. For my complete thoughts on the 2006 bracket, click here.

Committee Trivia

Six of the Committee's ten members played NCAA basketball as undergraduates (Hill, Littlepage, Morrison, Walters, O'Connor, LeCrone)

Three of the Committee's ten members now serve as Athletics Director at an institution they once attended (Hill, Guerrero, Walters)

Four of the Committee's ten members hold advanced degrees (Hill, Slive, O'Connor, LeCrone)

Three of the Committee's ten members served in the athletics department at Dartmouth College (Slive, Walters, O'Connor); two coached its basketball team (Walters, O'Connor)

Laing Kennedy is the first native Canadian in the modern history of the Selection Committee.

More Resources on the Committee(bios and photos taken from the following websites)

Craig K. Littlepage, AD, University of Virginia2005-2006 Chair
Craig Littlepage was named Virginia's AD in August 2001. The first African-American A.D. in Atlantic Coast Conference history, Littlepage has been a member of UVa's athletic administration since 1990. He served the last six years as senior associate director of athletics at Virginia, managing all aspects of the athletic department's day-to-day operations. He originally joined Virginia's athletic administrative staff in 1990 as an assistant athletic director.

Littlepage served two stints as an assistant coach with the Cavalier men's basketball program, from 1976 to 1982 and from 1988 to 1990. Upon his return to UVa in 1988, the Cavaliers posted a 22-11 mark and advanced to the finals of the NCAA Southeast Regional. In 1989-90, Littlepage helped lead the Cavaliers to a 20-12 record as Virginia advanced to the championship game of the ACC Tournament and earned a bid to the NCAA Tournament.

Littlepage held head coaching positions at Pennsylvania (1982-85) and at Rutgers (1985-88) before returning to Virginia. While at Penn, the Quakers won the Ivy League championship and participated in the 1985 NCAA Tournament. Littlepage was an assistant basketball coach at Villanova for two years and at Yale for one year before joining the UVa basketball program as an assistant coach in 1976. During his six-year stint at Virginia, the Cavaliers compiled an overall record of 134-53, won the National Invitation Tournament (NIT) championship in 1980 and advanced to the NCAA Final Four in 1981.

The LaMott, Pa., native graduated from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania in 1973 earning a B.S. in Economics. He was a member of three Ivy League basketball championship teams at Penn and was instrumental in the Quakers' drive to three consecutive NCAA Eastern Regional championship playoff appearances.

Littlepage and fellow Committee member Gene Smith have both been named as two of the "50 most powerful African-Americans in sports."

Christopher Hill, AD, University of Utah
Dr. Chris Hill has served as Utah's Athletic Director since October 1987. As an undergraduate at Rutgers University, Hill lettered three years and was co-captain of the 1971-72 basketball team. His earned his bachelor's degree in math education (1972). He also has a master's in education (Utah, 1974), and a Ph.D. in educational administration (Utah, 1982). Hill taught in the University's special education department from 1983-85. He coached boys basketball at Granger High (Utah) from 1975-79, and was named 4A coach of the year his first year.

Laing E. Kennedy , AD, Kent State University
Laing Kennedy was named the Athletic Director of Kent State in 1994. A native of Ontario, Kennedy earned All-American honors as a goaltender for Cornell University in Ice Hockey, and was named Cornell's Outstanding Athlete in 1963. He was named the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics' Regional Director of the year in 2002 and 2006. Kennedy is just the second MAC AD to be named to the Selection Committee.

Stanley M. Morrison, AD, Univ. of California-Riverside
Stanley Morrison played center for the University of California's 1959 National Championship and 1960 Runner-Up teams, and returned to college basketball soon after, coaching the Pacific Tigers from 1972-1979, the USC Trojans from 1979-1986, and the San Jose State Spartans from 1989-1998. He also served as the Athletic Director at UC-Santa Barbara from 1986-1989. He began his current appointment at UC-Riverside in 1999, guiding the school through its transition into Division I. Morrison serves on the Board of Directors of a number of Southern California charities.

Michael L. Slive, Commissioner, Southeastern Conference
Prior to joining the SEC in 2002, Slive had been the commissioner of Conference USA since 1995. He served as commissioner of the Great Midwest Conference since its formation in 1991, and played a pivotal role in the success of the Great Midwest during the 1990's. His previous athletic administrative experiences include: assistant director of athletics at Dartmouth College (1968-69), assistant Executive Director of the Pacific-10 Conference (1979-81), and Director of Athletics at Cornell University (1981-83). Slive has an extensive legal background, and holds a bachelor's degree from Dartmouth, a JD from the University of Virginia Law School and an LLM from Georgetown.

Thomas J. O'Connor, AD, George Mason University
Named the athletic director at George Mason in November 1994, Tom O'Connor was also named the university's assistant vice president in 1999. O'Connor previously served as athletic director at Loyola (MD) College (1976-86), at Santa Clara University (1986-92), and at St. Bonaventure University (1992-94). He was also the head basketball coach at Dartmouth College (1972-74) and at Loyola (1974-76), and his age of 25 when he became head coach at Dartmouth ranks him as the sixth-youngest head coach to ever take over a NCAA Division I program. O'Connor is a member of the Assumption (MA) College Hall of Fame, where he lettered in basketball for four years and graduated in 1968.

Jonathan B. Le Crone, Commissioner, Horizon League
Jonathan LeCrone was named the Horizon League's fifth commissioner in May 1992. LeCrone was named to a five-year term on the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Committee in 2003, largely due to the success of Horizon League teams in the NCAA Tournament. LeCrone spent nine years as assistant commissioner at the Atlantic Coast Conference, where he was responsible for conference projects in television, marketing, and public relations. Prior to joining the ACC, LeCrone was Assistant Athletics Director at Wake Forest, his alma mater, for four years. He also spent a year in the Chicago Cubs baseball organization as the business manager for its AAA team in Wichita.

LeCrone graduated from Wake Forest in 1976 with a bachelor's degree in English. He also earned a master's degree in sports administration from Ohio University in 1978. LeCrone was a member of the Demon Deacons' basketball team.

Daniel Guerrero, AD, UCLA
Daniel Guerrero was named UCLA's Athletics Director in April 2002. UCLA teams have won 11 National Championships in Guerrero's 3+ years at the helm. He has been named by Sports Illustrated as one of the most influential minorities in sports. Guerrero had been UC-Irvine's AD for ten years prior to his move to Westwood. Guerrero graduated from UCLA in 1974 and was an all-star baseball player. He was born in Tucson.

Eugene Smith, AD, The Ohio State University
Eugene "Gene" Smith took over the Ohio State mantle from Andy Geiger in March of 2005, coming to the Buckeyes after stints as the AD at Arizona State, Iowa State, and Eastern Michigan. A Cleveland, Ohio, native, Smith attended Notre Dame and won a national championship as a defensive end on the Fighting Irish Football team. He also served as an assistant coach on the Irish's 1977 championship team.

Smith and fellow Committee member Craig Littlepage have both been named as two of the "50 most powerful African-Americans in sports."